Electric pulse generator



L 1953 L. RJSPAULDING 2,654,339

ELECTRIC PUL SE GENERATOR Filed Feb 24. 1949 i Fig. 2

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Patented Oct. 6, 1953 FI'EED .iiS PAT- ENT FICE (Granted-- under .T le 35,U. S- Code. (19.52), se 2616) 3 Claims.

:1 r The invention described herein may bemanu- :factured and usedzbv :Or'..f0 :..th Government of the United States for ,governmental an rposes without the payment to me of any royaltytthereon I in accordance I with-the: provisions of the Act crep -i130,192810114560, 45 StatL. 467).

,I-'hi s invention ;relates .to electrical .testing cir- .cuitsgenerallygbut in particula-r' to those producting electrical signals of prescribed form. The ;principal object of this invention is togproduce an electrical circuit which will transmit a suc- .cessionof controlled-electrical pulses of extreme- .ly short duration. .Another object is to produce, cat---Will, .pulses of variable voltage andvariable time spacing. .A third object; is to produce said pulses in isolated pairs, that, is,,just ,two pulses .at a time. What constitutes my presentinven- .tion is described ;in:the.f ollowting specification in reference tothe drawing-and issuceinetly. defined .in the appended claims.

In the. drawing, ,Eigure lis ,atschematic, circuit diagram. Figure ,zgisan, illustration ofthe wave form of the voltageinone part of thecircuit ,duringoperation. Figure 3 isan illustration of :the wave form of-the pulses produced and transmitted by the circuit-shown; in Figure .1. .Figure .,4 isan arrangement alternative .to part of Figure 1.

Referring to Figure ,1it,is desired .to impress :a pair of electrical .pulses asshown .in Figure 3 across a load representedby a resistor .Land .another.loadingresistonz. .Theseqpulses arepro- ,duced .at will by throwing, lmanually, a switch 13.. from one. contactlfl toa second contact .5.

Be nnin w th wi ch .3 .omconta t Ah conden e 6 :isch-arfifl by ,a battery 1 throu ha .series of resistors.,8, .9 and .l I. When ,switcht3 is ;thIOWI1rf-IOII1 contact-.4 to contactfi, condenser .6 sbecomes short .cilicuited ;and :a second. condenser L2 1 becomestchargedby. battery inthe same .way :as condenser .5 :been originally charged through .resistors ,8, 9, and t I I.

In .this arran emen th win switch I 3 from .4 to 1-5 or ,vice iversa .causes a :surge of current fr,orn-,battery (I 130 how until, condenser-.6 or .condenser .IZ becomes -,eharged. During :;-the time either-condenser is being. charged, current flows -through resistors :-8,-,9,.;and ll,. and into a con- .denser ;3 connected .to a gaseous triode I I4 between the griddiand cathode I6 thereof. :The vcltagaaoross condenser 13 and .resistors 8 and .B isdmpressedmn thezplate tloftheitriode I4 through atstabilizingresistor will. ,The increasiine o ta .enpea uaacre s ondens r :315 imn e sed. ongrid .I 5..

.Thewoltage of grid I.5- is a stabilized initially by 'aIbi-aswbattery J19. .When thepositivetsurge of yoltagerdeveloped- .acrosszcondenser I 3- sufliciently opposes l the bias :voltage-of battery I9, tube I4 becomes -;conduotive permitting current :to flow :in the-plate circuit through rplate resistor I8. -When-sw"itch.,-3 thrown the voltage of battery .I :;was impressed through tcondenser .6, for example, acrossresistors fl d, and al I and thereby "across resistor tll and the plate vI'I-of tube I4. This voltage is indicated in Figure. 2 by the height vZIofrthe voltage-wave. condenser G becomes c ed the voltage impressed on plate II of tube I4 decreasesexponentially,as. shown by the top r22tof .-the voltage wave. .When tube I4 becomes conductive, the plate impedance-becomes .virtuallytaelfo, I in e-fiect short-circuiting .resistors -8 and :9 andcausingthe voltage on ,the plate I I? to changeatozeroras indicated by.23 ofathe voltage wave inFigure .2.

Actually .the voltage Wave. in --Figure, 2 is more nearly level across the top .than shown in the drawing. The wave-shapeisnota critical factor because triode I14.becomes.conductivebefore condenser 6 has .become: charged :to. an appreciable voltage. That istthe-current through resistors}! and 9 remains, practically constant. untiltriode I 4 .has become-conducting. This follows fromthe condition that triode :14 becomes conducting when the negative bias ontgrid -I5 hasbeen decreased by only asmall amount. The voltage that decreases the .bias tiS developed across condenser I 3 when the chargethereimhas accumulated to as .little astafew percentof ,theeharge. ultimately accumulated when condenser J5 .and .condenser I3 are at. theirresultant equalized voltages. .This causes tube I I .to become tconducting in-a time lfollowingr the operation of. switch,.3 .that .is short .compared withthetimethat would berequiredto completelyoharge condenserfi or .I2 through resistors 8,9,.an d II.

,By properly proportioning the values ,of the various resistors and thetcondensers in the circ.uit,the time between-the beginningi I .and the end of the waveshowninFigure,2.can be.made to varyover arange of, from afew microseconds to .several seconds. Illustrative of .a practical constructionlotthe circuitfona wave asin Fig- .ure 2 ,of .from .about .10 @to about 1,000 microseconds, the following values are appropriate: Condensers .6 .and I2, .041 microfarad; resistors .8, 9,. andl I,,of the order of megohms;.andoon denser .13, .0.1 -microfarad. ,Resistor I8 is .not .an essential .part .of \the .circuit but it .is .useful .iorstabilizing the. operationof tube I4. Witha a given set of values of condensers and resistors, the length of the wave in Figure 2, is adjusted by variation of resistor 9.

The voltage wave as shown in Figure 2 is impressed on an ordinary triode 21 by condenser 2 and resistors 25 and 26 which act as a differentiating circuit. In one respect triode 21 accomplishes the function of matching the impedance between the high impedance circuit of condenser 2 3 and resistor 25 and 26, and the low impedance load resistance 1. When switch 3 is thrown current flows into condenser 24 until the condenser 24 is charged to the voltage impressed thereon by condensers 6 or l2. During the time condenser 24 is charging a current flows in resistors 25 and 25 producing in resistor 26 a voltage positive with respect to ground. Condenser 24 is small compared with condensers B and I2 so it becomes fully charged very quickly, thus stopping the flow of current in resistors 25 and 25. This momentary fiow of current in these resistors produces a brief fiow of current in triode 2'! as indicated by the short pulse 28 in Figure 3.

The occurrence of pulse 28 is within a very short time after switch 3 is thrown from contacts 4 to 5 or vice versa. After condenser 24 is charged and pulse 28 is completed there is no further action in triode 21 until triode M becomes conducting. When this occurs, the resistance across triode I4- drops to a low value, practically zero, so condenser 24 discharges quickly through triode l4 producing a flow of current in resistors 25 and 26 opposite in polarity to that occuring when condenser 2A was being charged. This produces pulse 29 indicated in Figure 3.

The pulses 28 and 29 are illustrative of the currents that fiow in resistor 2'5 and in triode 21. The two pulses 28 and 29 in resistor 2 are the result desired in the system. The spacing between pulses 28 and 29 is the same as between the beginning 2| and 23 of the flat topped wave 22 shown in Figure 2. Thus resistor 9 controls the spacing between pulses 28 and 23.

Triode 21 has for stabilization of performance a resistor 3i and a condenser 32.

Figure 4 shows an arrangement alternative to part of Figure 1. The basic principles of operation are the same, but whereas in Figure 1 a surge of voltage is produced on resistors 8 and 9 by charging a condenser E or I2, a surge is produced in Figure 4 by the discharge of a previously charged condenser 4| or 42.

In the operation of Figure 4, a gang operated pair of switches, single-pole, double-throw, 33 and 34, is thrown from their respective contacts 35 and 36 to a second pair of contacts 31 and 38, and vice versa. When switch 33 is in contact with 35, and switch 34 with contact 3%, as shown in Figure 4, condenser 4| is charged, or being charged by battery I while condenser 42 is discharged or being discharged through resistors 8, 9, and H or triode l4.

When switches 33 and 34 are thrown simultaneously from contacts 35 and 36 to contacts 3? and 38, condenser 4| begins to discharge through resistors 8, 9, and II. When condenser 4| begins to discharge, the current through resistors 3 and 9 rises immediately to a value as indicated by the side 2| of the fiat-topped surge shown in Figure 2. After this current has persisted long enough to decrease the voltage on condenser l3 to a value sufiiciently less than that of bias battery I, triode M becomes conducting whereupon condenser 4! is rapidly discharged through resistor l8 and triode l4 producing the side 23 of the surge shown in Figure 2.

The action of the remainder of the circuit is as described for Figure 1.

There are many variations permissible in the design of this invention, both in the detailed arrangement of parts and the selection of circuit constants including, voltage, capacitance, and resistance. The principal characteristics of this invention can be summarized as follows: A condenser is either charged or discharged into a circuit of capacitance and resistance simultaneously charging a second circuit in which the capacitance is small compared with that of the first circuit, and exciting a gaseous triode to complete and suddenly stop the current flow after a predetermined time; and utilizing the phenomena of the current starting and stopping to produce in the small-capacitance circuit two brief pulses of voltage at a predetermined time interval.

The characteristics of my invention are further summarized in the claims.

I claim:

1. In combination a circuit including two condensers and a source of electrical potential connected in series and a manually operated switch arranged to selectively and alternately short circuit each of said condensers, said circuit being connected in series with first and second resistors and arranged to produce upon operation of said switch a rapid change in the amount of electrical energy stored in the short-circuited condenser, said change causing a flow of electrical energy through said resistors, an electrical discharge device having a plate, a cathode and a control electrode, the plate-cathode circuit of said discharge device being connected in parallel with a circuit including said first resistor, the gridcathode circuit of said discharge device being connected in series with a source of biasing potential and said second resistor, a second condenser connected between said grid and cathode, whereby said fiow of electrical energy will cause an abrupt change of potential across said first resistor and whereby said electrical discharge device will become conductive and substantially short-circuit said first resistor at a predetermined time after the initiation of said energy flow to cause a square potential pulse to appear across said first mentioned resistor.

2. In combination a circuit including a manually operated switch, a first condenser and a source of steady uni-potential electric current for charging said condenser, said circuit being connected in series with first and second resistors, said switch being arranged to produce upon operation of said switch a rapid change in the amount of electrical energy stored in said condenser, said change causing a flow of electrical energy through said resistors, an electrical discharge device having a plate, a cathode, and a control electrode, the plate-cathode circuit of said discharge device being connected in parallel with a circuit including said first resistor, the grid-cathode circuit of said discharge device being connected in series with a source of biasing potential and said second resistor, a second condenser connected between said grid and cathode, whereby said fiow of electrical energy will cause an abrupt change of potential across said first resistor and whereby said electrical discharge device will become conductive and substantially short-circuit said first resistor at a predetermined time after the initiation of said energy flow to cause a single square potential pulse to appear across said first mentioned reslstor, and a differentiating means having its input connected across a circuit including said first mentioned resistor.

3. The combination of claim 1 in which the electrical discharge device is enclosed in a gaseous atmosphere.

LYMAN R. SPAULDING.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Number Name Date Whitely Dec. 10, 1946 Easton Apr. 22, 1947 Bliss Oct. 14, 1947 Woodward Nov. 4, 1947 Dean Feb. 17, 1948 De Rosa May25, 1948 Hulst Mar. 8, 1949 Heim Mar. 15, 1949 Custin May 22, 1951 Grosdoff Oct. 9, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Sept. 8, 1938 

